Vendor settings
The Vendor settings page holds every store-wide switch for the marketplace: whether customers may apply to become vendors, whether vendors can edit their own public profile, how vendor reviews work, and which address fields a vendor fills in. Individual vendors (name, commission, active or not) are managed separately, see Create, approve and activate vendors. Only administrators can open this page.
Where to find it
In the admin panel go to Settings → Vendor settings (address /admin/Setting/Vendor). Change the switches you need and click Save in the top right corner. Like other settings pages, it can be saved for all stores or, with a store selected, for one store only.
General settings
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Number of vendors to display | How many vendors the storefront's vendor block lists. 0 hides the block and also turns off the vendor list page /vendor/all/ (it redirects to the home page). Individual vendor pages still work. |
| Default vendor page size options | The comma-separated page sizes (for example 6, 3, 9) given to vendors created from the storefront application form. Each vendor can have its own later. |
| Show vendor on product details page | Shows Vendor: name with a link to the vendor page on the product page. |
| Allow customers to contact vendors | Adds a Contact vendor tab to the vendor page. The message is emailed to the vendor's address. |
| Allow customers to apply for vendor account | Turns on the application form at /vendorapply for signed-in customers. When off, that address redirects to the home page. |
| Allow search by vendor in store advanced search | Adds a vendor drop-down to the storefront's advanced search. |
| Allow vendors to edit info | Lets vendors edit their own name, description, picture, SEO fields and address in the vendor panel (user menu → vendor info). When off, that page shows access denied. |
| Notify about vendor information changes | Intended to email the store owner when a vendor edits its info. See the tip below. |
| Terms of service | Adds a mandatory "I accept the terms of service" checkbox to the vendor application form. |
Vendor review settings
Customers can rate a vendor (not only a product) on the vendor page. These switches control who can do it and when reviews appear.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Vendor reviews must be approved | New reviews stay hidden until someone approves them. The customer sees a message that the review appears after approval. |
| Allow anonymous users to write vendor reviews | Lets guests review. When off, only registered customers can, and guests also cannot vote on review helpfulness. |
| Vendor review possible only after purchasing product from vendor | Allows a review only from a customer who has at least one order with status Complete containing that vendor's products. Pending or processing orders do not count. |
| Vendor review possible only once by customer | One review per customer per vendor. |
| Notify about new vendor reviews | Emails the vendor when a new review is written. |
| Vendor Reviews Allowed by default | Sets Allow customer reviews on vendors created through the storefront application form. You can still change it per vendor. |
| Default rating value | The star rating pre-selected in the review form (1 to 5). |
| Number of review visible on vendor page | How many reviews the vendor page lists. |
Address settings for Vendor
A vendor has one address, shown on the vendor page's Address tab and filled in on the application form and the vendor info page. The 'Company' enabled, 'Street address' enabled, 'Street address 2' enabled, 'Zip / postal code' enabled, 'City' enabled, 'Country' enabled, 'Phone number' enabled and 'Fax number' enabled switches decide which fields the form shows. When a field is enabled, a matching required switch appears next to it so you can make it mandatory. With everything off, as on a fresh install, vendors enter no address at all.
A sensible starting configuration
- Turn on Show vendor on product details page so buyers know who they are buying from.
- Turn on Allow customers to apply for vendor account and Terms of service if you accept new sellers.
- Turn on Allow vendors to edit info so vendors keep their own description and picture up to date.
- Keep Vendor reviews must be approved and Vendor review possible only after purchasing product from vendor on to avoid fake reviews.
- Enable at least 'Country' enabled, 'City' enabled and 'Street address' enabled if you want vendors' addresses on their pages.
- Set Number of vendors to display above 0 if you want a vendor block and the
/vendor/all/page.
Tips and common mistakes
- "The apply page just goes to the home page." Either Allow customers to apply for vendor account is off, or the visitor is not signed in (guests are sent to the login page first).
- Vendor info link missing in the vendor panel. The link in the vendor's user menu appears only when Allow vendors to edit info is on.
- Nobody can review a vendor. With only after purchasing on, the customer needs a Complete order from that vendor. Also check Allow customer reviews on the vendor itself: when it is off, the review form is refused for that vendor whatever the settings say.
- Notify about vendor information changes is stored and shown here, but in the current version saving the vendor info page does not send an email. Do not rely on it for moderation; check vendors' pages yourself.
- Email texts (new vendor application, vendor review notification, contact vendor) are message templates. See Content management.
Related
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